That is a phrase which is screaming in my head today. Normally, Friday signals good things to come, dinner with friends, a visit with one of my kids, shopping ahead, or just hanging out in my hobby room. But not this Friday, this Friday is test day for me. Once again I will struggle with ‘except’ questions as I attempt to get my license for insurance. I don’t remember having ‘except’ questions when I went to school. I feel I must apologize to my children, testing is hard. I’m sorry.
In case you’ve been out of school for awhile let me tell you what is an ‘except’ question. They all start out with something like this,
The following statements are true except for one:
OR
The following statements are all false except for:
And what follows are statements that are long and twisted in their meanings and you think two of the four couldn’t possibly be correct but the two that are left are so similar you’re left wondering which was correct. Confused? Me too. So on Friday morning if you’d offer a prayer for the cloud of confusion to leave my mind I would be grateful.
Tag: writing
Top Ten Blessings
I’ve been tagged by Jennifer Tiszai.
1. A friend who has blessed me:Just one? You have to be kidding I can’t pick just one! My mom, Gail, Barb, Barb, Kathie, Elaine, and a lot more!
2. An unexpected gift: A ring from my husband
3. A kind word shared with me recently: Someone told me I make them laugh.
4. Something that makes me stop and praise God: Sunsets every time.
5. Something I’m looking forward to: cooking in my kitchen
6. A particular part of me I’m pleased with: my quirkiness
7. Something in my life that I wanted but never expected: my ring 🙂
8. A place that moved/moves me: St. George’s Island and the ocean
9. One thing/person that always makes me smile: my kids even though they are no longer little, they make me happy! That included you too Sara, Alyson and Brianna!
10. Most recent “love note” from God: I was reading Jen’s manuscript and it’s as if He jumped out off the page just for me.
Kids and Water
What a fun night! Our little friend K. came to play in the pool. I had forgotten how much fun it can be once they’re water safe. It seems like when my kids were small I was always the ever watchful mom afraid one of them wouldn’t surface so pool time wasn’t relaxing. Tonight I got to play ‘robbers and person’ and ‘teenager’ and ‘chase’ I wanted to scream I don’t want to get out along with her when it was time to go. It was good to feel like a kid again. It didn’t hurt that the water was warm either!
What’s that doggie in the window?
Yes, I said what, not who. There is a lot of construction work on the bridge in St. Louis which results in long traffic lines that don’t move quickly. While we were waiting our turn to move forward I glanced in the car next to me. A small face popped up catching my attention. My brain didn’t process the information it was getting because what I was seeing didn’t belong! My brain kept saying small dog but my eyes were screaming, NO, it’s a monkey!’ And it was. A spider monkey was in the car next to me riding on the driver’s lap. I have to say it was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen on the bridge.
Last night, St. Louis was hit by a major wind storm. We were spared from any wind damage but we also didn’t get any rain. Not good for my little town across the river. My son lives on the other side of the river and he is one of the many without power. Today it is going to be 101 degrees. Many people will be without air conditioning today, please pray for their safety.
Sold we hope
There is a contract on our house! That is such a relief but we do have to take down the garage. I’ll try and post a picture of that nightmare next week. The dumpster arrived today but I don’t think it will be big enough.
Today I decided God put that house into my life so I wouldn’t have so much time to mope around my empty house missing my sons. I know, I know… they have to move on and it’s part of my job to make sure they do. I have to say I’m grateful I’m human and not a momma bird though at least the season I had them in the nest lasts much longer!
Ramblings about fear
I’ve realized that fear doesn’t always happen quickly. The adrenaline rush doesn’t always occur. I’ve let fit creep into my life ilike and invasive weed. It has to stop. I’ve allowed the evilness of it to control my every move in the past two years. I’m turning this over to God. Right now. I know He is the only one who can eliminate this nasty nightmare from my life.
IF I let Him.
And that’s the problem. I like control. That free will gets me into trouble because I’m so sure I can fix this by myself, after all it’s how I got here right? Allowing myself to be afraid to do small things like drive on a highway. Now to be fair to myself there is a reason I am afraid but the odds are it won’t happen again. And I did survive it. I should be happy not fearful. So far I’m the only person I know other than my husband who was with me at the time to be stuck in trafic no where to go as police cars skidded, slammed and slid past us on thier mission to stop a criminal. Guns were pulled, shots fired at tires, sparks were flying past my window, of course I was scared, anyone would be. But why have I allowed it to keep me from living my life? I don’t know. So I’m going to hold onto these verses from Proverbs 3:25-26 (NIV) Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.
God works when I allow Him access to my life. I stumbled on this verse yesterday while searching for scriptures for my new book. The bible is huge and yet this is the verse I discovered.
July 5
Since Sunday I’ve been thinking about the service. Normally, I’m a contemporary worshiper but this Sunday we sang Blessed Assurance and I’ve been singing it all week. I had forgotten how much that song meant to me through my teenage years. I think it needs to become my new internal theme song. There is one line, okay more than one that really touched my heart.
Perfect sumission perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy whispers of love.
I needed to hear that without His Son there would be no mercy for me. I’m thankful to God He loved me enough to save me.
July 1
This might be the answer to keeping up with my blog! Yay! I found this cool add on program for firefox that helps me post.
It’s hot here! Our backyard pool is still green so we won’t be swimming this weekend. We bought the pool when our boys were younger and they enjoyed it. But now almost everyone is living somewhere else, except the youngest who is only home during prime swimming time. He doesn’t seem to be around when it’s time to work on the pool. Odd isn’t it? Love you Josh.
Still no buyers for our ‘tuition’ house. I’m hoping after the fourth of July, people will be more interested in finding a new home. Or maybe I’ll reconsider selling our home and moving into that one. At least everything is updated and clean there! I’m working on cleaning this one now. It’s amazing how fast things can get out of control when you’re tired.
On writing:
I’m using writer’s blocks 3 and Karen Wiesner’s book First Draft to get my next book ready. I’m on day two. 🙂 I’m also getting another proposal ready to send out so my time is filling up fast. I thought I would have lots of free time now that I’ve finished most of my hard labor on the tuition house. 🙂 Lesson learned: there will always be work to fill up the empty time IF you are willing to do it.
Snowflakes
Snowflakes! What a wonderful gift to find in the morning sky! I love snow this time of year. After Christmas I don’t want to see it for a long time. But that’s another post. Today I’m happy and singing Christmas carols. Yes, CHRISTmas carols, not holiday songs.
I’m saddened by news my son told me yesterday. Boston has decided their Capitol Christmas tree must be called a Holiday Tree. The city now has Holiday Tree Lots.
I guess that will work out just fine if they want to leave the tree up for the rest of the year, think of the money it could save in decorations. It could work for Valentines Day, Easter, Fourth of July, all they would have to do is change the color of the lights.
Well, this family will never have a holiday tree. Our house will serve the Lord and we will proudly display our Christmas tree to celebrate the birth of our Savior.
April 30
D-day, deadline day did I make it? YES! I actually finished the rewrite and emailed it my agent yesterday. Now the wait begins. I’m taking a week off to do things I’ve let go, like cleaning and grocery shopping, and then I’m going to start drafting my next book.